[thelist] selling ebooks

[David Lindblad]

Not only did I find the book I was looking for... I found a site that
had a tool to crack the encryption on the book... another site that had
a cracked version of the book (for free download)... YIKES!

There are a few commercial software programs that can bypass security  
however they cannot do so on a PDF with a set password to open the  
document. That being said, anyone who purchases the e-book can still  
pass along the file and passwords to friends co-workers etc.

Whatever you decide I would strongly suggest disabling printing as  
someone can print/distill to PDF and create an unsecured version of  
the book.

If Lulu is offering DRM "per book" pricing I would re-visit that as  
an option.


Dave



> On Thursday 05 April 2007, Conyers, Dwayne wrote:
>> Bottom line... anything electronic can be accessed.  The only benefit
> of
>> locks (like DRM) is that they keep honest people honest.
>
> thanks guys for the friendly warnings - obviously DRM is not meant for
> anyone without a bank account like NewsCorp or Viacom. I merely
> represent a successful fellow who wants to self-publish a few ebooks
> for $9.95, not a multi-tentacled conglomerate. Although the Lulu.com
> stuff does seem to be the little guy's best hope. In any case, the
> client now thinks a simple expiring download key and the honor system
> will suffice.